A Prince Among Swans

One of the many things wonderful about Stratford ... all summer we are graced with swans on our peaceful Avon river.

Being new to Stratford, I hadn't really thought much about what happened behind the curtains on the swan scene, though I had heard that we have a swan-keeper.

As it turns out, Stratford seems to have a lock on effective swan management - to such an extent that we make Ottawa look a little foolish. Imagine that!

Here's the article from the Ottawa Journal.

Loving Stratford ... Not So Much

Okay, so last post I mentioned some of the things I really like about living in Stratford. This post isn't quite so upbeat.

The renovation I posted about earlier this year that was to have lasted 10, no 12 weeks from start to finish wasn't quite complete after 27 weeks when we fired our first general contractor.

I won't go into details here, but you can read more about it (with pictures) at stratfordrenovations.com.

Loving Stratford

Ten things I love about Stratford ...

1. You don't really have to lock your doors.
2. If you put a loonie in the parking meter, you get to park for about 3 days
3. Strangers you meet on the street always say hello.
4. Evil swans that chase your dog.
5. The streets are filled with tourists all summer.
6. The tourists leave in October.
7. House prices.
8. Gossip at the Canadian Tire gas bar.
9. You just might spot someone famous on a walk through the park.
10. Snow, glorious snow. No need to join a gym, just shovel your driveway.

Let the Work Begin

Well the move to Stratford has come and gone. We have been in our new home in this great little community for one month as of today.

I'd love to say the yard is looking good (it isn't) and the gardens are all in full bloom (they aren't), but wouldn't it be great to be able to say that?

We took possession of this house last February when the yard was under several feet of snow. Since then our attention has been focused on the squadrons of workmen busy inside the house and not so much on the outside. With the coming of spring and the inevitable melting of the snow it was pretty apparent that there was a lot more work to do on the yard than we remembered.

My guess is that yard and gardens haven't seen much maintenance in about 3 to 5 years. The garden work this summer will, of necessity, be mainly weeding, edging, re-claiming gardens from grass and cutting back that which has gone wildly out of control.

Here are a couple of before shots of a little plot beside our (nasty) garden shed. One of the rhubarbs is about 7 feet tall. The thistle beside it is at least 6 feet, though it was initially dwarfed by the rhubarb (The-Plant-That-Ate-New-York).

Then there is a shot of what that little garden looks like now. I intend to make it into an herb garden. Since it is so late in the season now, most of the herbs will have to wait until next spring to get started. I did manage to find two very sad looking basil plants in the sale bin at Zehrs and bought them for 26 cents each!

For the record, it took me almost 5 hours and 3 yard waste bags to clean out this one little corner of paradise. I salvaged some decorative concrete edging from another sad little garden to keep the soil and plants safe from the driveway. I don't normally like this edging, but it was handy and there is no point in adding to the Stratford landfill site unnecessarily.

Before:






After:


There is an old cast iron stove of some sort in the back of this garden by the cedars. I'm reasonably sure there are no human remains inside it. I did make a brief, half-hearted attempt to dig it up but since I was hot and tired I arrived at the conclusion that it will add interest to the herb garden and really should just stay there.

And here's the original home of the concrete edging that I re-purposed. It's a little hard to tell which side is garden and which side is lawn.



I'll end today's post with one more before-after pair. There are mature gardens around the entire house and deck. All are overgrown and under-weeded. Most have been planted with things that need full sun to thrive though our house is surrounded by very large shade trees and these gardens are pretty much in full shade most of the day. Lots of work to do yet as I've only finished cleaning out on one side of the house. I guess that means I am about 1/4 done.

Before:


After:

As Bob Dylan Would Say ...

The Times They Are A-Changin.

I will have to change the 'About Anne' part of this blog as I no long live or work in Toronto.

It is official now, I live in Stratford. As for the working part ... I'm taking a brief pause before leaping into the next phase of my career. At the moment I don't know how long that 'brief pause' will be nor do I know quite know what the next career will be.

It is enough, just now, to play with Zeus, work on the gardens and completely and totally enjoy our new home in Stratford.

Stratford Outside in June

Remember this?



Well now it looks like this ...



This is not to say that there isn't work to be done outside at our new home - I have lots of ideas. A few more pictures of the yard and deck as it looks in the early summer.







Most of the work this summer will be cleaning up and thinning out. The soil here is heavy clay and the plants are quite overgrown. Also, we are thinking of making some changes to the decks, adding a storage shed and garage - so any serious work on the gardens around the decks will have to wait until we decide what we're doing.

Stratford Reno - Almost There

The renovations to our new home in Stratford are almost complete. We decided to change all the floors and ended up selecting an engineered hardwood through most of the house. The kitchen and bathroom floors are limestone and the stairs are carpeted.

First some pictures of the main floor as it is now.






The kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanity, built-in closet and stereo cabinets are all in matching cherry wood with an espresso finish and were designed and built by Woodecor





Here are Roel and Zeus sitting on our new carpeting and waving hello. And next a dog's-eye view of our new living space.





I'll end with the view from our bay window that I'm pretty sure we'll be enjoying every day. You can see more before and after pictures at Katamat.

Stratford Renovations

We are making rapid progress with the renovations to our house in Stratford.

First some pictures of the inside of the house as it was in late March.

We decided to open up as much of the space as possible and one of the best ideas was to remove the walls around stairs, giving us more light and more sense of space.


When we bought the house, it was operating as a B & B and there was a small office on the main floor. We've taken the walls down and made a space for the grand piano. We were a little fearful the piano would be a tight fit, so we made a cut out to check the space for sure. And it looks like the piano will fit just fine.


Here's what remains of the kitchen. Here, too, we removed the wall separating the kitchen from the dining room.


Now for the outside. The snow is starting to disappear so I was able to get more photographs of the yard to assist in my garden planning. The first two shots show different angles of the front of the house and yard.






Here's the view from the front porch ...



And the side and back yards ...







Now that spring is on it's way, I'm hoping to get more shots of the yard and start giving some serious thought to plans for gardens.

As for the inside of the house, the exciting part is just beginning. My next post will definitely be showing rooms coming together rather than being torn apart. We've decided on floors, counters, kitchener cabinets, sinks, faucets and outside doors. It's really exciting now watching the progress from week to week.

We've been working with WoodDecor here in town on the kitchens and other cabinets. Lloyd is an amazing craftsman and artist. With the vaguest description of what I want, he pulls together a sketch in minutes that captures it completely.

Before long, I look forward to being able to post some before and after shots of the inside.

Happy Easter to all.

Summer Thoughts

Happy March 1st.

As a miserable winter storm blows through Ontario on the first day of March, my thoughts turn to this summer's gardening project. My husband and I have bought a new home in a beautiful little town in Southern Ontario. This summer it looks like I'll have more space than our deck offered last year.

We have, in my opinion, a perfect sized lot with some great mature trees and lots of potential. The house is over 85 years old and there is a distinct possibility that some of the shrubs are approaching that age too.

I invite you to follow along as I (slowly) plan and execute a remodeling of the yard. And indeed, it might be very slowly this first summer, since we are remodeling the inside of the house too.

My nephew, Tyler, a landscaper himself, has volunteered to help me with the design and maybe even the execution of our plan. So this promises to be fun on two fronts: 1) gardening is always fun; and 2) I'll get to work on a project with my favourite nephew!

I have promised myself that this time I will follow the pro's recommendations, take my time and do this right ... with lots of thought and planning. There will be no mad rush to the garden centre buying interesting looking plants on a whim. We will approach this garden with discipline. No really, I promise.

The first step is to get to know your garden space to understand how the sun hits it, what it looks like and particularly what it looks like in all seasons. Here are some photos of the yard under a blanket of snow.

The Front (the porch faces east):




The Side (facing north):



The Other Side(facing south): Please note the beautiful trellis nailed to the house for support! And under that snow is a poured concrete walk that needs help.



The back of the house - we get some fantastic afternoon sun here.



Finally, here are some shots of the view we will have from our living room and front porch. We can enjoy these views with no work at all.